AG tells UNC MPs: State owes me no legal fees

ATTORNEY General Reginald Armour, SC, told opposition MPs on Tuesday that no legal fees are owed to him for any work he did for the Government as a lawyer before he was appointed to Cabinet on March 16.

Responding to a question from Barataria/San Juan MP Saddam Hosein during a meeting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, Armour recalled he did some work for the Office of the AG and Legal Affairs before being made AG.

"I do recall I was paid some fees."

Before asking his question, Hosein said the Office of the AG spent $72 million in legal fees in fiscal 2022 and was seeking a sum of $30 million to handle legal fees in the next fiscal year.

Hosein repeated his question to Armour on the amount of fees paid to him as an attorney engaged by the Office of the AG.

Armour said the $72 million figure was elaborated upon by his predecessor Faris Al-Rawi in last year's budget debate in the House.

"I don't have the figures to hand. That's not anything I walk with. But I am certainly prepared to provide it in writing."

Hosein claimed to have information before him which suggested Armour received $3.9 million in legal fees last year.

He asked Armour if any outstanding fees were owed to him.

Armour replied, "There are no outstanding fees owed to me."

Hosein asked if any other MP "was the beneficiary of any legal fees in the last fiscal year."

Armour initially said Port of Spain South MP Keith Scotland might be in that category, but after saying he could not confirm this orally, he promised to provide the information in writing.

He told MPs the Office of the AG has a central role in the governance of Trinidad and Tobago, as outlined in Section 75 (2) of the Constitution.

Armour said the AG is "an indispensable member of the Cabinet, along with the honourable prime minister."

He added that the AG's constitutional commitment is "to good governance, the rule of law and democracy." The AG's responsibilities, he said, include "the administration for legal affairs with respect to civil and criminal proceedings."

The committee approved an expenditure of $345,276,200 for the Office of the AG.

Later in the proceedings, the committee approved expenditures of $27,538,650, $571,351,400, $6,802,900 and $144, 882, 580 for the Industrial Court, Judiciary, Equal Opportunity Tribunal and the Office of the Parliament respectively.